PICKET: Obama to denounce anti-islam film at UN as Muslim leaders call for anti-blasphemy laws

President Barack Obama will address the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday and according to USA Today, he will focus on the “recent unrest in the Muslim World” within his remarks:

President Obama will address “the recent unrest in the Muslim world” in his speech Tuesday to the United Nations General Assembly, the White House is saying.

That includes denouncing both the protests at American diplomatic posts in the Middle East — including the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya — and the anti-Islam film that is inspiring some of the protests.

“As he has in recent days, the President will make it clear that we reject the views in this video, while also underscoring that violence is never acceptable,” said National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor in a memo on Obama’s upcoming U.N. speech.That message has been echoed by leaders in Libya, Egypt, Yemen and other nations, the memo stated.

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The news of President Obama’s remarks comes on the heels of Muslim leaders calling on the UN to establish “anti-blaspemy” laws. The Daily Times in Pakistan reported:

* PM says government will fight on all diplomatic fronts to stop evil forces in world from all kinds of anti-Islam actions

KARACHI: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Saturday announced that the government would fight on all diplomatic fronts to stop the evil forces in the world from all kinds of anti-Islam actions like the recent blasphemous film.

Raja was addressing a ceremony at the Chief Minister’s House for distributing cheques among the heirs of the deceased and the injured of the factory fire incident in Baldia Town.

The prime minister reiterated his demand from United Nations and other international organisations to come up with an effective legislation against all kinds of anti-Islam acts which harm the co-existence and harmony among the followers of different religions.

“We would go to the UN and OIC and get a law passed to stop anti-Islam activities, including blasphemy, for-ever,” he added. The prime minister said the Muslims have respect and reverence for all prophets and messengers of God and also other religions in the world. The Muslims expect that followers of other religions would reciprocate in the same way, he added. It was time to wage a diplomatic war with full sincerity and commitment until the international community is convinced to take concrete action including due legislation against all kinds of anti-Islam activities that provoke the sentiments of the Muslim world, Raja said.

Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb has demanded a UN resolution criminalizing blasphemy against Islam and other world religions, as well as demanding that those he described as “misled” be punished for committing “these heinous acts of abuse to the Prophet.”

In a statement released Saturday, Tayyeb called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to criminalize the defamation of religion, saying that such actions and words threaten world peace and international security.

“Is not that irresponsible tampering, Mr. Secretary General, similar to the issue of [anti-Semitic] prejudice, which you condemn all the time, and [against] which verdicts were issued against alleged perpetrators in many countries of the world, even if they are great thinkers and scientists?” Tayyeb asked in the statement.

There is currently a $100,00 bounty on the head of the filmmaker, the Pakistan Express Tribuneis reporting, that was put out by Pakistan’s Federal Railway Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour:

Federal Railway Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour announced that $100,000 will be awarded to the person who kills the maker of the anti-Islam blasphemous film “Innocence of Muslims”.Speaking to the media on Saturday, Bilour said that there was no other way to lodge a protest and instill fear among the blasphemers other than murder of the filmmaker. “I request all the rich people to bring out all their money so that the killer can be loaded with dollars and gold.”The minister admitted of knowing that he was committing a crime by instigating people for murder, but said that he was ready to be a criminal for this cause. “If there is a case lodged against me in the international court or in this country’s court, I will ask people to hand me over to them… I want to show these countries that we will not tolerate any such things.”

The White House recently declared the deadly attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, was indeed a terrorist attack after a week of officials blaming the online anti-Muslim film trailer as the root cause of the violence.

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About the Author

Kerry Picket, a former Opinion Blogger/Editor of The Watercooler, was associate producer for the Media Research Center, a content producer for Robin Quivers of “The Howard Stern Show” on Sirius satellite radio and a production assistant and copy writer at MTV.